White House aides turn on each other in hunt for op-ed author

White House

The president headed out West for a campaign swing, leaving behind a West Wing seized by paranoia and finger-pointing.

President Donald Trump put physical distance between himself and the mutiny he faces in Washington, jetting off Thursday for an unusual two-day Western swing amid rising questions about whether his own aides trust him to run the country.

The back-to-back publication of damaging excerpts from Bob Woodward’s forthcoming insider account of Trump’s White House and an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times detailing an internal “resistance” among top officials – along with the ever-present threat posed by Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation – is increasingly weighing on Trump, who continues to seethe over what he perceives as efforts to undermine his legitimacy, according to one Republican close to the White House.

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The president left behind a White House seized with paranoia, as staffers worried that anything they say to colleagues or in meetings will become fodder for the next tell-all or leak, according to interviews with more than a half dozen White House officials and Republicans close to the administration.

Trump aides feel burned not just by leaks to Woodward but by last month’s release of secret tapes that their former colleague Omarosa Manigault Newman made during the 2016 campaign and in the West Wing. And they’re worried that the nascent search for the author of the Times op-ed will become an excuse for aides to exact revenge on each other – “or target those they dislike,” as one staffer put it.

The overwhelming atmosphere of distrust and suspicion among Trump’s closest aides echoes earlier ugly periods in the White House, including last spring’s crackdown on leaks following the publication of remarks made by a press aide in an internal meeting dismissing Arizona Sen. John McCain’s health.

Staffers have largely reacted in anger, instead of shock, to the publication of the op-ed, arguing that if the author feels so incensed by the president’s behavior or agenda, than he or she should resign.

“The notion that someone is claiming to be the guardian of sane policy while being utterly disloyal to the president has a lot of people angry and put off by the arrogance and sanctimony,” said a second Republican close to the White House.

White House officials say they increasingly believe the anonymous author works for a federal agency, outside of the West Wing proper, but that’s speculation based on little evidence. If the author works as senior official for the White House, that narrows the circle to roughly 20 people, said one White House aide, but if it’s a senior official throughout the administration, those ranks run into the hundreds.

To Trump loyalists, the op-ed was the latest evidence that the president is surrounded by staffers who ultimately do not believe in his agenda and only took jobs inside the administration to bolster their own résumés.

“The real story is that you have an administration staffed with people who don’t actually like Trump or agree with him on the issues. This is a predictable consequence of that,” said one former administration official. “It all comes back to the fact that they allowed Reince Priebus and company to staff the administration with people who were not true believers.”

A cascade of de facto loyalty pledges emanated from the Trump administration on Thursday, as roughly 22 top officials and Cabinet members rushed to publicly deny writing the explosive Times op-ed. The goal was to provide assurances, directly to the president, that specific individuals from the Vice President’s office, the CIA, the Pentagon, the Treasury Department, intelligence agencies, and even the White House’s own counsel’s office were not engaged in sabotaging him.

Part of the White House’s strategy involved turning the Times into a foil for Trump, a playbook that served the president well during the 2016 campaign and at various rallies where he draws energy from trashing his enemies.

“If you want to know who this gutless loser is, call the opinion desk of the failing NYT at 212-556-1234 and ask them,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a tweet mid-afternoon. “They are the only ones complicit in this deceitful act. We stand united together and fully support our President Donald J. Trump.”

One former campaign official pointed out that the op-ed took the spotlight thankfully away from the Woodward book, which the White House has long anticipated.

Veterans of Trump’s 2016 campaign – who survived the “Access Hollywood” tape and a host of other scandals – displayed a palpable calm on Thursday. While administration aides were still steeped in speculation about who wrote the op-ed, some of the president’s outside political advisers were piggybacking on his focus on the rising economy, arguing it’s the only thing that matters right now for Trump and his party’s electoral prospects – a talking point that establishment Republicans and congressional leaders have long hoped Trump will talk up.

“It’s just another day in Donald Trump’s America,” said a third Republican close to the president.

“This narrative that Donald Trump is incapable has been forwarded by the media and the left during the campaign, the early days of the administration and it persists to this day,” the Republican added. “But as long as Americans are doing better … who cares?”